The Krupp Intern: Letter to Berthold Beitz - Stanford University in Berlin

More documents

Recommendations

Info

1990 2009 1990 1996 After the Berlin Wall fell, my Krupp Internship sometimes took me to what Germans still sometimes call “die neuen Länder” (despite the fact that they were there the whole time). I was fortunate to be in Berlin during the months after the “fall” of the Berlin Wall ... The encounters I had with natives of East Berlin stay with me. These people were incredibly generous (serving us the precious stores of coffee and chocolate they saved for special occasions), open and interested in the “outside” world. They were also incredibly modest, having few material possessions. I took long walks through Erfurt and Weimar on the weekends and daily after work. I observed and listened and digested like I never had before. Living in Dresden dramatically changed my impression about that region and about the GDR. I found that most of the criticisms I had heard about the Neue Länder were not true at all. The people were quite friendly once you get to know them, there was a vibrant small business culture (it’s the medium-size fi rms the Neue Länder are lacking), the cities were quite clean and well-maintained, the civil service was professional and effective in the limited capacity with which I interacted with them (better than Berlin from my experience), and the people worked hard ... The former East certainly has its problems, but I found that the stereotype so common in the West was largely untrue. My journalism Internship provided me an unparalleled view into East German society and the thorniest issues of reunifi cation — property rights, cultural divides, economic disparities. This deeper understanding of the challenges surrounding the reunifi cation gave me a great appreciation and admiration for the way people from both sides were able to overcome differences entrenched over decades and make the reunifi cation work. My Krupp Internship acquainted me not only with the lived realities of the German Question and the Cold War, but also with German political culture in a broader sense. Many young people in Germany were not happy with America. But the war widows always loved us. Conversation soon turned to politics, and to the military in particular. I tried to understand how a country that seemed today so fi ercely pacifi st could meanwhile employ a compulsory draft ... I echoed what American generals have argued since Vietnam – that a conscripted army won’t fi ght as well as an all-volunteer force. My German friend then countered, “Why would you want an army that’s good at fi ghting?” Living in Berlin challenged many of my assumptions about what the developed world can be. I was stunned by the quality and reliability of the public transportation (German complaints about BVG aside), the wisdom of labor laws designed to keep jobs on German soil, the level of respect that was generally granted to workers, and incentives designed to encourage companies to move people to part-time work (instead of laying them off) to reduce unemployment. Previous assumption: Germans are united and proud to be German (they had moved on from the events that took place in the 30’s and 40’s). Reality: Germans still do not call themselves “German.” Rather, they call themselves Berliners, Munchners, etc. Even the young are still very much affected by the events that took place in the 30’s and 40’s. When I found my 20-year-old self with a press pass around my neck attending Marlene Dietrich’s burial on the newspaper’s behalf, I fully realized how political Marlene Dietrich was, how much she still divided the passions of those who thought of her as a traitor for leaving her homeland and those who thought of her as brave for renouncing the Nazi regime. It was at that moment that I reached a new personal level of understanding of how intertwined German history is with its present. 2007 2009 1986 1992 2009
1994 1987 1995 So many encounters, so much learned. I can directly trace back everything over the past 20-years (the career, lifestyle, premature gray hair etc.) to a simple decision made in Villa Hügel all those years ago. Also, the power of your network is special. You never know where it will take or what doors it will open. I was able to “give back” to the Krupp Program in a small way by facilitating the placement of interns with SAP ... we are now seeing a “second generation” of interns, with a Krupp Program alumnus helping set up a new group of interns with a company in Germany. My experience working with refugees in the Leipzig refugee camp, as well as students from diverse backgrounds at the Jüdisches Gymnasium has been invaluable as we navigate the Cambodian system to develop a school for children with disadvantaged backgrounds – the pilot school for what we hope to be 50+ around the world over the next decade or so. My Krupp internship absolutely changed my plans ... Prior to this internship, I had not seriously considered a career in journalism. This internship gave me insight into what it was really like and inspired me to pursue that career path myself. I spent 8 years at CNN as a newswriter, editor and producer as a result. As for me, my “aha” moment led me to realize that I was much more interested in technology as a social and cultural phenomenon rather than as an engineer. I cannot imagine how I would have come to have a career as a historian and as the director of an independent research library without the experiences I shared in Germany, in Berlin, and at Haus Cramer. I returned to Siemens in Germany nearly fi fteen years later. From 2002 – 2004, I was working in venture capital as Chairman of a medical device company ... Our company had developed pattern recognition software for detecting early-stage cancers on medical images. I had the chance to present the software and company to Siemens Medical ... they bought the entire company. The software is now being sold with Siemens medical imaging devices, and many of my former colleagues are still working with Siemens today ... It is with deep gratitude that I want to thank Dr. Beitz and the Krupp Foundation for getting my career off to a strong start with my fi rst work experience with Siemens over twenty years ago. Much lives on, one way and another, in memory and in effect. But there is one cherished thing I could not take with me when I departed: Being there, in the German places that had become home – the place where the magic stayed when I left. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I remember realizing, on my 21st birthday, that there really is beauty in a rainy summer night in Hamburg; enjoying the pleasant train ride to Oberpfaffenhofen every morning; living and working in Husum; working in Schwalbach ... a scintillating experience; walking at the edge of the Aasee, a long, thin lake that reaches right into central Münster ... people strolling on the lake’s frozen, snow-covered surface ... young couples, groups of teenagers, kids playing with dogs and balls; ... Warnemunde, I enjoyed it immensely. And Berlin, an impression as fanciful as it is enduring and endearing: Ich lief gerade auf der Baustelle (Potsdamer Platz) als ich Moeven herumfl iegen sah. Da der Boden in Berlin ziehmlich sandig ist und es auch ausreichend Wasser gibt dachte ich mir, hmm, in Berlin zu sein ist fast wie am Strand zu sein. Tja ... wenn man von den kalten Temperaturen und dem Eis absieht! In closing, I’d like to harken back to the days when I worked only in the sciences or engineering, to share a fi nal nostalgic detail, pristine in its uniqueness and after twenty-seven years still vibrant in its immediacy: Never shall I forget seeing the stress lines of automobile engines using double exposure laser holography before and after tightening the exhaust manifold bolts on an engine. 1992 1992 1999 2011 1985 1986 2004 1990 1996 1995 1986 1991
Page 1 and 2: the krupp intern
Page 3 and 4: Hochverehrter Herr Professor Beitz,
Page 5 and 6: 1992 1991 1984 1982 1989 1986 2011
Page 7 and 8: 1997 2010 1990 1990 1991 Many of my
Page 9: Back in the day ... the politics of
Page 13 and 14: 1981 - 1982 1990 - 1991 2005 1982 -

The Krupp Intern: Letter to Berthold Beitz - Stanford University in Berlin

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?